Belt And Saw

Even though I still felt the Alpine Loop ride in my legs (that's what I get for being off the road bike so long) I had to get out for a ride today. I headed up into the foothills to see the upper half of the Belt route (I rode the lower part recently).

As I left the house I could see storm clouds to the south.

Up the Water Tank road then part way up Betty and took the right onto Belt. I took my folding saw I bought last week to take out some scrub oak stumps, but someone already took care of most of them and I only saw (then sawed) one. But I did cut back some brush in a few places.

At the Altar I went up GWT to find the start of the upper Belt trail. It was farther than I expected but I spotted the rock cairn on the left. It's a wild trail and I liked it. Climbs steeply in places, but easier going than the GWT. A little ways into the trail I scared up 6-8 juvenile turkeys (gobblings?) and watched mother turkey warily retreat while making sure I wasn't coming after her brood. After 1/4 mile or so it joined into Area 51 and I went left (west).

I haven't gone this direction on Area 51 and I liked it, even with a couple steep climbs. Speeding down this section of trail I didn't notice the cool little narrow valley it was in.

As I crested the top I got a nice view of the valley.


And the rain that missed me to the south and east.


Looking back down the trail I had come up.


One flower shot.


I went down Area 51 and cut back some brush in a few places. Then I had the choice to continue over to Dry Canyon, go down Crank or down Lament back to the Altar - I chose Lament. It was a nice downhill I hadn't done in a long time. I stopped several times to clear brush.

While clearing brush I felt some pressure in the bowels. Just gas? Nope. I got on the bike to head for home. The agitation from riding made it worse, and more urgent. This was a DEFCON 2 situation. I made my way into the woods and took care of business. Scrub oak leaves are not Charmin, but did the job. (Note to self: pack some tissues.) I immediately felt much better. So much so that I made a few more stops to trim back brush.

I finished the ride with Betty, Roller Coaster then crossed over to finish off with Ireland. It was a nice ride. I also saw a spotted fawn and two snakes along the way.

4 comments:

UtRider said...

Did you take any pictures of the snakes?

Watcher said...

At that elevation, your best TP is probably Maple, not Oak. Over 7K feet look around for Thimbleberry leaves. A pampered behind is a happy behind.

IamMatt said...

Nice pictures.

Defcon situations are definitely not pleasant. Been there before.

KanyonKris said...

UtRider - Both snakes were moving quickly across the trail so I couldn't get any photos.

Watcher - I was too low for Thimbleberry, but I did remember your review of it's wiping properties.